Cooking up a storm…literally

After my ten mile run yesterday, I set to work doing some cooking!  It’s been awhile since I really cooked something (instead of like…scrambled eggs on toast or mac and cheese), so it was fun!  I really do like cooking, especially trying new things.  It’s just hard to put all the work into cooking just to sit and eat by myself.  But it sure tastes good and I really only have to cook one-two times per week since leftovers are my best friend.  (Unless it’s pizza…I hate leftover pizza!)

For my first meal, I did some searching for a good recipe for quinoa.  I’ve heard about this grain before and always wanted to try it.  After searching allrecipes.com (your best friend and mine), I went with this Quinoa and Black Beans recipe, mainly because I love black beans and the reviews said that it is very easy to customize.  I added a red pepper and zucchini to make the dish complete, and it was quite fantastic.  Easy recipe, although I left out the cayenne pepper (realized we didn’t have any) and used red pepper flakes instead…and I left out the corn because I’m not the biggest fan of corn when it’s in things.  Anyway, it was tasty…and I’m eating leftovers now.  Check it out:

Yum!  Sorry about the quality…I’m no food blogger!

Next up was this “Bean Concoction” as seen on Heather at Run Lean Green.  It looked like a good dinner alternative to my usual turkey sandwich, which isn’t my favorite, but it’s quick and easy so I fall back on it.  Simple recipe:

• One can cannellini beans
• Lemon juice
• Minced garlic (sautéed in olive oil with red pepper flakes)
• Sliced grape tomatoes
• Cilantro (leftover from the quinoa recipe)…my own addition

Mash up the beans and add everything else and you’re good to go!  Simple and tasty.  I wrapped it up in a whole wheat wrap with some spinach…I was going to add avocado, but it was rotten!  $2 down the drain!  Oh well.

Mixed up and ready to eat!

Some other good stuff that I picked up at the grocery store:

I’ve seen this peanut butter on some blogs, and I’ve thought about buying it before, but it’s $5+/jar.  I saw it on sale for $4-something, so I went ahead and bought it.  I have yet to taste it, but I’m excited.

Peanut butter AND white chocolate??  This has to be good

The Rocket Scientist thought I was crazy when I was excited for Chobani yogurt 10/$10.  That’s cheap for Greek yogurt, but let’s face it…that’s still expensive yogurt!  I stocked up anyway, and I’m excited to try new flavors like pomegranate!  I’m not a huge fan of fruit on the bottom, but we’ll make it work.

  Yogurt taking over the fridge!

After my cookfest yesterday, I headed to work.  Storms were on the way, as it was really windy as I climbed into my car.  I was hoping to beat the rain, but just as I pulled into the parking lot, it DOWNPOURED.  Like monsoon.  I had no umbrella.  Being late for work isn’t much of an option, so I made a run for it…annnnd got soaked.  We hunted for an extra scrub top in the closet at work, and we found a white one that was giant (even though it was a size small…), so I wore that with my wet pants.  FUN.

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Easy recovery run today.  Cloudy and 78-ish, MUCH less humid than it’s been.  Awesome.

Saturday, August 22
5.23 miles in 44:04, avg pace of 8:25

Working this weekend…hopefully it goes better than my first weekend!